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Comment by tiatia | Hacker News Reader

1. US milk does not taste good. Actually, it does not taste at all. I always thought this is just in my mind until a Swiss guy said the same.

2. All milk products are do not taste so well and often have poor quality. Cheese, Yogurt etc.

3. You can get excellent cheese and yogurt but this comes with a hefty price tag. E.g. Whole foods etc.

I have the impression that supermarket foods in the US have a much lower quality compared to Europe. You can get the same or better quality, if you can effort to pay for it.

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> 1. US milk does not taste good. Actually, it does not taste at all. I always thought this is just in my mind until a Swiss guy said the same.

I don't believe this. Milk sold at a super market comes from cows and cows need to be semi local to bring milk to any store. I'd love to know how milk from other places is somehow superior. My suspicion is that it isn't and just confirmation bias (that or someone is comparing different types of milk (e.g. 2% versus homogenized) which is a poor comparison).

On the face of it, it is easy to say "it's just milk, it all tastes the same", but there are significant differences in how milk is produced in the US compared to the EU.

Most US-made milk is produced using genetically engineered growth hormones (rBGH) which are banned in the EU as they are believed to increase the risk of cancer. It would not be legal to sell US milk in the EU (or Canada) for health reasons. That, and other differences in production methods, could go some way towards explaining the perceived superiority.

I'm skeptical. Less than 20% of milk produced in the US uses rBGH, and most health organizations, including in Canada and Europe, agree that milk from rBGH/rBST cows is safe for humans. The reason it's banned in the EU and Canada is because it's a health risk for cows, not people. And the reason you're not likely to get US fresh milk in those countries has more to do with transportation costs than production standards.

If I had to guess, I'd say the most likely reasons for flavor differences are 1) different pasteurization techniques 2) fat content 3) consumption temperature (you can't taste sugars as well when they're cold).

I could understand bread factoring in but a growth hormone used in a very low number of cattle in the United States? That doesn't really make sense. It doesn't scale to fit the answer previously provided that I am skeptical of.

I do believe this. I live in the UK where there is regional variance in the taste of milk. I believe this is due to factors such as the breed of cattle, the type of cattle feed (which is sometimes season dependent) and processing techniques. Supermarket milk is commonly from Friesian cows, but sometimes from Ayrshire cows (especially in Scotland) or from Jersey cows (especially in South West England). My personal favourite is non-homogenised milk from Ayrshire cows.

> Milk sold at a super market comes from cows and cows need to be semi local to bring milk to any store.

Not true. I was suprised to see that milk in the Phillipines is imported from Australia

> Not true. I was suprised to see that milk in the Phillipines is imported from Australia

It's true in the United States which was the topic of the conversation. Not sure what the Philippines has to do with this.

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